Despite sleep problems caused by a very noisy air conditioner in our room, we rose the next morning enthusiastic about our trip to find one or two locations to observe the solar eclipse for August 21, 2017.
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| Phyllis, Margaret, Louise |
Although the event was years away, we knew it needed adequate preparation for success. And we would not shirk our duty: to do the best job we possibly could in pursuit of our goal--finding our totality location.
Upon awaking, one of Louise tackled the fitness room, getting her daily quota of running in while Phyllis slept. Margaret also, was cognizant of her fitness and when she and Louise finished they headed for the breakfast room. It was there that the inevitable happened. Disaster struck: Louise lost her mouthguard. Little did she know about this occurance because she did not discover the loss until that evening. (picture of mouthguard)
On our way
out of Asheville, we stopped off in Waynesville for lunch because Margaret
wished to buy some of her favorite granola. We realized that the town where the granola was originally purchased was Weaverville, some 20 miles north of Asheville.
Waynesville, not Weaverville, would be our lunch destination and we again looked to 'Yelp' to
list the best eating establishments in Waynesville and came up with one
called 'Sweet Onion'. We plugged the address into our trusty car nav system and found it easily. (http://www.sweetonionrestaurant.com/)
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| Sweet Onion Restaurant, Waynesville, NC |
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| Sweet Onion Salads and Iced Tea |
Not so easy
to find was Margaret's favorite granola ( Hippie Crack), nor Louise's
mouthguard. Louise had begun to call the hotel in Asheville to see if
she could track it down to no avail.
Despite that setback, we were undeterred from our mission.
With bellies full, the intrepid explorers hit the road. Our goal was Gallatin, Tennessee, one of the towns along the line of totality.
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| Hampton Inn Gallatin |
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| Quality Inn Gallatin |
This line had been determined on the map that Margaret received from Bob Dunford for the purpose of finding the best location along the path of the eclipse as it proceeded across the United States. We discerned that Gallatin would have a duration of the eclipse very close to the max and it could be an alternative to the main location which is Hopkinsville, KY. (see eclipse maps here: http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov)
Gallatin is close to Nashville, Tennessee and the geography of the region is hilly. We read that the Tennessee area is prone to storms and that Nashville area is in a bowl and is very prone to clouds and storms. For that reason, we knew we had to explore Hopkinsville as an alternative location.
Once we found Gallatin, TN we knew we were very close to Hopkinsville, KY. We decided to visit Hopkinsville, scope out the area, complete with pictures.
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| Quality Inn Gallatin |
A quick trip to Hopkinsville yielded 5 good hotels and we visited each one and took manager cards for each of them. Here is a picture of the cross-section in the middle of town.
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| Hampton Inn and Suites, Hopkinsville, KY |
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| Best Western Hotel, Hopkinsville, KY | | | |
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| Fairfield Inn, Hopkinsville, KY | | |
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| Comfort Inn and Suites, Hopkinsville, KY |
Gallatin, Tennessee is a hot-bed of fast-food chains and restaurants. So, we resorted once again to Yelp for a list of all the local restaurants. A restaurant by the name of Mo' Cara was our choice for dinner. They claimed to specialize in Fine Southern Dining. We were anxious to find out what that means.
Here is a sample of their wares:
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| Dinner Rolls and Spread |
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| Fish Tacos and Black Beans |
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| Intrepid Sisters: (L to R) Phyllis, Louise, and Margaret |
